It is well known to provide a guy wire with a guard. The purpose of the guard is to make the guy wire highly visible, so as to reduce the potential that passers-by will collide with the guy wire, and to reduce the severity of injuries flowing from collisions that do occur. To serve this purpose, a guard is often constructed out of highly-visible plastic and takes the form of a tube of sufficient length to wrap around that portion of the guy wire that is likely to be the subject of a collision, and of a diameter calculated to spread the force of a typical collision over a sufficient area to avoid serious injury. Guards often are about 5-7′ long, and 3-5″ in diameter.
Usually, that portion of the guy wire that is likely to be collided with is the portion nearest the ground. If the guard tube is not secured to the wire, it is possible for wind to carry the tube away from the ground, thereby dangerously exposing the lower portion of the wire. Accordingly, it is commonplace to immobilize the guy guard with respect to the guy wire. This has the added benefit of reducing the incidence of unlawful removal of the guards. Various immobilization systems are known in the art. A commonly used system involves a metal bolt and a pair of metal jaws, one having a threaded bore and the other having a clearance hole. The shaft of the bolt is slipped through a hole in the tube wall and through the clearance hole, and then threaded into the threaded bore. Using this system, an installer can fit the guy wire between the jaws and tighten the bolt to immobilize the wire. This system is known to be operable, but the metal components can be expensive. It can also be inconvenient to use, as the installer is required to simultaneously keep the guy wire and jaws properly arranged and tighten the bolt. A result of this inconvenience is that often installers fail to immobilize the guards, with consequential deleterious impacts on safety.